Are rear red turn signals planned for Yaris as well ?

[77W]

Hi

Toyota started to become mean by saving couple of cents by changing rear turn signals from Yellow to Red. They first did the change in Sienna and from 2010 models the change came to Corolla and Camry as well apart from Honda's Civic and Accord after Odyssey.

I am a strong opponent of red turn signals and consider them a hazard. I never have and will never buy a motor vehicle with red turn signals.

American manufacturers have caught up with Asian ones and introduced Yellow turn signals (for example, Dodge Caravan). But now Japanese have started to become mean like old Americans.

My question is are red turn signals targeted for Toyota Yaris, Prius, IQ and Honda's Fit and Fit Junior as well ? If so, it will be catastrophic. No wonder Mazda5 is beginning to take away Sienna and Odyssey fans. Soon Camry/Corolla as well as Accord/Civic fans will begin to flee as well.

My 2-cents

77W

[YarisSedan]

I think from a cosmetic stand point red looks more cleaner. I honestly dont think of it as a safety concern. I never have had a issue with confusing the person infront of me signalling verses braking even though his turn signals wernt orange. I dont think realistically there has been a accident due to someone going hard on thier brakes acuse the person infront of them was making a left turn and thinking he was actually braking and that caused the person behind him to rear end him but i could be wrong.

But that is just my opinion everyone has thier right to thier own.

[BuildCode]

I'll jump in and absolutely agree with you, I really cannot stand cars that don't have yellow/orange turn signals, from a safety and style standpoint! It's funny I also have a rule that I will never purchase a vehicle with red or shared brake light turn signals!

[Black Yaris]

i have orange turns signals on the rear of my RAV.... I don't like it, they are going all red

[slothman86]

I have no problem with red turn signals as long as they don't share the same bulb as the break lights. Either way I redded out my tail lights along time ago. They look really crisp and clean compared to before.

[yaris-me]

I think that if the car is not going to be exported to Europe, then doing the red turn signal saves a few dollars. So long as the Yaris is a European export, it will have the amber turn signal.:smile:

[BluYrs]

The Sienna has lights which appear red but are acutally amber. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kjhWcgQFVE#t=03m04s

[devinlamothe]

Actually last night I saw a brand new BMW 2010, forget which model, but it had all LED lights. The front & side turn signals were yellow, but the back lights were red. Annoyed me to no end.

And I do find it not safe to have brake/turn lights the same colour. If you quickly glance its hard to distinguish what's going on, where as if I see a yellow flashing light I know immediately something is going on so pay attention. Just my opinion but it bugs me too.

[devinlamothe]

wow really wow...you really think rear red turn signals are unsafe.... seriously i don't think it changes anything 90% of the people don't even use turn signals. just pay attention to your driving and stop thinking expecting the car to do everything for you

Ya not many people do use turn signals but those people can be cited for not using them.

And what I mean by unsafe is, if the brake & turn light are one bulb, if it burns out you get neither. Even if the turn signal is red but a SEPERATE bulb, that is OK but still annoying, lol. Maybe I just have OCD or something.

[77W]

wow really wow...you really think rear red turn signals are unsafe.... seriously i don't think it changes anything 90% of the people don't even use turn signals. just pay attention to your driving and stop thinking expecting the car to do everything for you

Personally, my brain takes extra CPU cycles to process a blinking red turn signal from a vehicle in front of me. And when both break and turn signals are on, it drives me nuts. That's why I always find them offending and unsafe. I do not thinks savings total due to red signals are X Dollars/car - perhaps few cents per car due to economies of scale.

If red signals are not going to all models, it could be Toyota wants to phase out its legacy models over time and replace them with fuel efficient ones. Due to immigration, there is significant population in US/Canada that does not like red turn signals.

[MadMax]

Wow, I wouldn't consider this a factor for not buying a car; especially with the Yaris as it is so inexpensive and easy to swap out the tail lights anyway! My original tail lights are sitting in a box in my garage, I got the TYCs via this forum and they look much cooler!

I think 99.9% of the general populous will deal with the change without catastrophe, as the vast majority will most likely not even notice the difference.

Cheers! M2

[Shroomster]

i wish people would get ticketed for other stuff than just speeding, would make the roads safer and teach people how to drive (failure to yield, changing lanes without signaling, changing lanes on a solid line, etc)

driving with high beams on to 'compensate' for not taking the time to replace burned out headlight bulbs.....


and honestly to the OP why not just find a nice clean set of aftermarket lights that have the amber part?

[BuildCode]

and honestly to the OP why not just find a nice clean set of aftermarket lights that have the amber part?

Yes aftermarket could be swapped in, but it's that other people are driving these cars, and I'd perfer to not waste the extra CPU cycles (as OP put it) on deciphering a blink of I see out the corner of my eye that would require no extra thought if the blink were a specific color :smile:

But, as PK198105 said, we obviously have to pay attention anyways since nobody uses their signals :rolleyes:

[nlpnt]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of red signals either.
The Yaris already had its' mid-cycle facelift in '09 when they went from amber under a clear lens to the saturated amber lens, I doubt they'll revise the rear lights again until they redo the whole car.

[YAR1S]

Im not a fan of red but it wouldnt sway me from a car??? I hate those retarded brake lights that flickker and stobe/flash to warn people that your braking....stooooppppid.

[Cosmonaut]

LOL. most people dont even use the turn signals where im at( and that's annoying).
but if i see a light go off either red or yellow i see it as a single signal to watch that person because either way they will do something and that needs to be noted.

[ztlonewolf]

Yes aftermarket could be swapped in, but it's that other people are driving these cars, and I'd perfer to not waste the extra CPU cycles (as OP put it) on deciphering a blink of I see out the corner of my eye that would require no extra thought if the blink were a specific color :smile:

But, as PK198105 said, we obviously have to pay attention anyways since nobody uses their signals :rolleyes:

why are you looking to the side while you are driving your car,try looking straight ahead when your driving please

[supmet]

why are you looking to the side while you are driving your car,try looking straight ahead when your driving please

Hey Skippy, he IS looking straight ahead, that's why its out of the CORNER of his eye. By the way, when driving you should look around you, and check your mirrors, because there's a whole world outside of your lane...

[advocate]

This is a very very critical issue.

[Yarrris-Wench]

Im not one to complain but I think the orange/yellow turn signals are easier to distinguish than the red on red/ shared. Leave it to some person on their cell phone or talking or eating a midnight snack to "not see" your turn signal when it's shared & see where that gets you.

If it comes down to it, we'll all just have to be more careful, or scavenge some orange/yellow Macguyver turn signals. lol

[slothman86]

i wish people would get ticketed for other stuff than just speeding, would make the roads safer and teach people how to drive (failure to yield, changing lanes without signaling, changing lanes on a solid line, etc)

how about giving up your right-of-way...It only causes more confusion!

[BuildCode]

Hey Skippy, he IS looking straight ahead, that's why its out of the CORNER of his eye. By the way, when driving you should look around you, and check your mirrors, because there's a whole world outside of your lane...

lol exactly right. And too many people ONLY look straight ahead!

[Black Yaris]

This is the most important thread YW has ever had

[eht13]

I've always hated rear red turn signals. It seems like lazy design to use the same color for both functions, and when braking and turning are very different things there is just no way that they can be statistically just as safe as yellow turn signals. Also, while many rear red turn signals may use different bulbs than the brakes, some do share the bulb, which negates the argument for simply changing the light cover to an aftermarket one in that case.

[eTiMaGo]

I thought red turn signals were something that got phased out years ago for safety concerns... which is why it really confused me when some of the previous-generation mitsubishi lancers were introduced here with red rear turn signals, struck me as very dangerous, the human brain is good at associating colors with meaning... Red = react now!, orange = pay attention. So what's next, traffic lights will have 3 red lights, you gotta pay attention to which one turns on?

Oh and one thing you guys don't have to deal with, a lot of the cool kids here with modded scooters think it's awesome to tint their HEADLIGHTS red... :iono:

[Yarrris-Wench]

Oh and one thing you guys don't have to deal with, a lot of the cool kids here with modded scooters think it's awesome to tint their HEADLIGHTS red... :iono:

wow.. thats really stupid. :eek::confused:

[supmet]

struck me as very dangerous, the human brain is good at associating colors with meaning..

exactly... especially since most people drive on "auto pilot" - how many times have you seen someone go at a green that isn't for their lane? Because in their auto pilot brain, green means go.

[xtremesniper]

wow really wow...you really think rear red turn signals are unsafe.... seriously i don't think it changes anything 90% of the people don't even use turn signals. just pay attention to your driving and stop thinking expecting the car to do everything for you

Haha dude, you live in Montreal. No offense, but nobody in Montreal drives by the rules. Of course no one signals!

Regardless, I completely agree with the fact that I would avoid buying cars with red turn signals. I cannot stand them and they are a safety hazard.

When I'm passing by someone through their blind spot (this is just an example) I can't see both of their rear lights so I rely on the one closest to me to determine if they are going to make a lane change onto me because they aren't checking their blind spot. But when people brake as if they're braking to a beat, it looks like a turn signal and I slow down to let them make the change only to find out that they were simply braking.

Honestly it's kind of funny that you brought this up because I have always fumed about American cars having no yellow turn signals... I really do hope Toyota doesn't cheap out. If not, I'll have to change the lights myself.

[kimona]

Here's a good review of the topic at hand:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn_signal#Turn_signals

Should you not want to read the review, this was copied from it:

Turn signal colour

Until the early 1960s, most front turn signals worldwide emitted white light and most rear turn signals emitted red. Amber front turn signals were voluntarily adopted by the auto industry in the USA for most vehicles beginning in the 1963 model year, though front turn signals were still permitted to emit white light until FMVSS 108 took effect for the 1968 model year, whereupon amber became the only permissible colour for front turn signals. Presently, almost all countries outside North America require that all front, side and rear turn signals produce amber light. In North America the rear signals may be amber or red. International proponents of amber rear signals say they are more easily discernible as turn signals. U.S. studies in the early 1990s demonstrated improvements in the speed and accuracy of following drivers' reaction to brake lamps when the turn signals were amber rather than red.[36][37][38][39][40] American regulators and other proponents of red rear turn signals have historically asserted there is no proven benefit to amber signals. However, a 2008 U.S. study by NHTSA (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) suggests vehicles with amber rear signals rather than red ones are up to 28% less likely to be involved in certain kinds of collisions,[41] and a 2009 NHTSA study determined there is a significant overall safety benefit to amber rather than red rear turn signals.[42]

There is some evidence that turn signals with colourless clear lenses and amber bulbs may be less conspicuous in bright sunlight than those with amber lenses and colourless bulbs.[43]

[eht13]

Interesting article, thanks. I think that amber bulbs with colorless lenses (like on the Yaris) is the best way to go.

If cost savings are the supposed reason for making turn signals and brakes the same color, that seems odd given that in Europe, Asia, and Australia amber rear turn signals are required, and most of these cars (especially Hondas and Toyotas) are made for all those markets too. It just seems that making them the same would be simpler and cheaper overall. It's also ironic that North America is the only place that doesn't require amber now, since the center third brake light requirement started in North America and then spread to most of the rest of the world.

"In North America since 1986, in Australia and New Zealand since 1990, and in Europe since 1998, a central brake lamp, mounted higher than the vehicle's left and right brake lamps and called a Centre High Mount Stop Lamp (CHMSL), is also required. The CHMSL (pronounced /ˈtʃɪmzəl/) is also sometimes referred to as the centre brake lamp, the third brake light, the eye-level brake lamp, the safety brake lamp, the high-level brake lamp, or the Liddy Light (for Elizabeth Dole, who as U.S. Secretary of Transportation presided over its introduction in the United States[50]). The CHMSL may produce light by means of a single central filament bulb, a row or cluster of filament bulbs or LEDs, or a strip of Neon tube.

The CHMSL is intended to provide a deceleration warning to following drivers whose view of the vehicle's left and right stop lamps is blocked by interceding vehicles. It also helps to disambiguate brake vs. turn signal messages in North America, where red rear turn signals identical in appearance to brake lamps are permitted, and also can provide a redundant brake signal in the event of a brake lamp malfunction."

[GeneralDon7]

I have to agree that the red turn signal is harder to distinguish from the actual brake light. I do agree with the fact that hardly anyone uses there turn signal anyway(apparently we use telepathy today), which i know so many friends who fail there driving tests cause of this fact. I was behind this mustang whose turn signal, brake and rear light, it was harder to distinguish what the car was going to do, not that to say that I couldnt, but it took longer to. I think its a very dumb idea.

[devinlamothe]

I have to agree that the red turn signal is harder to distinguish from the actual brake light. I do agree with the fact that hardly anyone uses there turn signal anyway(apparently we use telepathy today), which i know so many friends who fail there driving tests cause of this fact. I was behind this mustang whose turn signal, brake and rear light, it was harder to distinguish what the car was going to do, not that to say that I couldnt, but it took longer to. I think its a very dumb idea.

Ya the new mustangs are dumb, they have 7 lights on the back and they are ALL red (3 for each side, 1 centre brake light). Plus some of them do that weird fade when you brake, AND when you put the turn signal on. And while it does look cool, how do you know WTF they are doing?

[GeneralDon7]

Ya the new mustangs are dumb, they have 7 lights on the back and they are ALL red (3 for each side, 1 centre brake light). Plus some of them do that weird fade when you brake, AND when you put the turn signal on. And while it does look cool, how do you know WTF they are doing?

exactly and they actually give my gf siezures

[rwyu]

Actually last night I saw a brand new BMW 2010, forget which model, but it had all LED lights. The front & side turn signals were yellow, but the back lights were red. Annoyed me to no end.

And I do find it not safe to have brake/turn lights the same colour. If you quickly glance its hard to distinguish what's going on, where as if I see a yellow flashing light I know immediately something is going on so pay attention. Just my opinion but it bugs me too.

It is probably the 3 series. Are you sure it was all LED's including the sides? I know that the 2010 has LED in the backlights since I have a 3 series.

I tried to avoid the ones with red turn signals, especially dealing with So Cal traffic. Then again, So Cal rule of thumb in driving is turn signals are optional...

-Richard

[joey666701]

sadly that is true here... very few cars even use turn signals... even a few big rigs dont use them... that woke me up on the freeway... but yea i do like the yellow turn lights better then the red... it doesnt take that important few seconds to figure out whats going on in front of u

[eht13]

I've always hated rear red turn signals. It seems like lazy design to use the same color for both functions, and when braking and turning are very different things there is just no way that they can be statistically just as safe as yellow turn signals. Also, while many rear red turn signals may use different bulbs than the brakes, some do share the bulb, which negates the argument for simply changing the light cover to an aftermarket one in that case.

Just an observation... since reading and posting in this thread, I've been paying more attention to the colors of other cars' rear turn signals as I drive. I've been surprised how many different makes and models have red ones now. Many of them look better than I would have thought they would, and none actually took me by surprise from a safety perspective the way I thought they might (especially because of center/third brake lights). So maybe I just haven't been paying attention over the last few years, and maybe I don't actually hate rear red turn signals anymore after all. :iono::laugh:

[xtremesniper]

Even still, I suppose having red turn signals is better than not using them at all. I've been having to resort to my driving school's method of "defensive driving" to keep myself from being side-swiped by idiots who switch lanes without looking OR signaling.

[GeneralDon7]

Even still, I suppose having red turn signals is better than not using them at all. I've been having to resort to my driving school's method of "defensive driving" to keep myself from being side-swiped by idiots who switch lanes without looking OR signaling.

Yea i have grown to be like this too, they just opened up a new road here, and theres two lanes that eventually grows a third for an exit to 70, well in the first 2 weeks, i almost get reamed by at least 10 different vehicles, from the people coming from the far left lane to get onto the exit, and not one vehicles used there turn signal. Luckily I could pretty much guess when someone was gonna do it. Otherwise I would be another user on here with a very hurt Yaris.

[B789]

Well recalls after recalls have proved that when a car manufacturer switches to red turn signals, it has compromised heavily on quality and reliability already. I can see Corolla, Camry and Sienna models dying soon.